


sing while you hear it, don't deny it

by cshmr



Series: nyxtober [6]
Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Angst, F/M, Nyxtober, Post-Canon, i guess?, not sure how to tag this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:00:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27214555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cshmr/pseuds/cshmr
Summary: emma's in the hospital. and it's too quiet.~~~prompt: silencetitle from & by tally hall
Relationships: Paul Matthews/Emma Perkins
Series: nyxtober [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1955443
Comments: 5
Kudos: 14





	sing while you hear it, don't deny it

The room is quiet except for the tick of a clock like a metronome out in a hallway, the click of heels bustling down the corridor. Every now and again, someone will come in, check up on her. But for the most part, the room is silent, and ~~Emma~~ Kelly sits alone.

It’s not all bad, they tell her, voices artificially sweet, lilting arpeggios of words. Her leg will heal. She’ll be out in two weeks, one week, six days, five days, four…

She doesn’t want four days. She wants Paul.

She remembers his visits to Beanie’s. He was always slightly unsure of himself, no matter how badly he tried to hide it. Stumbling over his words, trying just a little too hard to impress her, always tipping a good amount. It was very cute, if she’s honest with herself, and she began to look forward to his visits - at the very least, they meant an extra dollar or so in her pocket at the end of the day. At most, they meant a decent conversation, one without having to sing, until Zoey or Nora dragged her back into reality.

At this point, a lack of singing has become silence. Anything that’s not the rowdy tunes bellowing from crowds outside every once in a while is silence. Finally snapping at the nurse who always whistles, telling her to shut the fuck up is silence. Closing the curtains so the sun doesn’t shine through is silence.

It’s both a blessing and a curse. Silence means some thoughts come, while others go. Fear leaves, for a moment. Pain lessens.

But silence means loneliness, it means a different type of fear.

It means Paul, and it means Jane.

So when the silence is shattered once and for all one day, when they burst through the doors, she only fights at first. Kicking and screaming, running through looping halls, her shoes a steady metronome clicking on the floor, artificial arpeggios floating from the doorways as she pants.

But Paul takes her aside from the others, his words no longer without a song, his eyes as blue as the scrubs of the nurse who never stopped whistling. His smile shines bright, false. Just as Jane’s used to be.

She joins him.

And she’s silent no more.

**Author's Note:**

> unsure if i like this one or not but here ya go!


End file.
